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William Shakespeare's Star Wars is a series of novels by Ian Doescher that parody the style of William Shakespeare, with nine installments adapting the films of the Skywalker Saga. The novels are written as closet dramas, mixing blank verse poetry and stage scripts with Early Modern English stock characters and orthography.
All three volumes were subsequently released as William Shakespeare's Star Wars Trilogy: The Royal Box Set.
Jedi, Jedi Knights, or collectively the Jedi Order are the main heroic protagonists of many works of the Star Wars franchise. Working symbiotically alongside the Old Galactic Republic, and later supporting the Rebel Alliance, the Jedi Order is depicted as a monastic, academic, military, and meritocratic peacekeeping organization whose origin dates back thousands of years before the events of the first film released in the franchise. The fictional organization has inspired a real-world new religious movement and parody religion: Jediism.
Darth Vader is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. Star Wars creator George Lucas has collectively referred to the first six episodic films of the franchise as "the tragedy of Darth Vader". Darth Vader has become one of the most iconic villains in popular culture, and has been listed among the greatest villains and fictional characters ever. His masked face and helmet, in particular, is one of the most iconic character designs of all time.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Within the original trilogy, Obi-Wan is a Jedi Master as a supporting character and is portrayed by English actor Alec Guinness. In the later-released prequel trilogy, a younger version of the character serves as one of the two main protagonists, alongside Anakin Skywalker, and is portrayed by Scottish actor Ewan McGregor. In the original trilogy he is introduced as Ben Kenobi, an alias he uses while in hiding from the Empire. He is a mentor to Luke Skywalker, to whom he introduces the ways of the Jedi. After sacrificing himself in a duel against Darth Vader, Obi-Wan guides Luke through the Force in his fight against the Galactic Empire. In the prequel trilogy, set two decades earlier, he is initially a Padawan (apprentice) to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, and later mentor and friend of Luke's father Anakin, who falls to the dark side of the Force and becomes Vader. The character briefly appears in the sequel trilogy as a disembodied voice, speaking to protagonist Rey, and serving as the namesake of Ben Solo. He is frequently featured as a main character in various other Star Wars media, including the streaming television miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi, in which McGregor reprised the role.
Qui-Gon Jinn is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, played by Liam Neeson. He is a main character in the prequel film trilogy, serving as the protagonist of The Phantom Menace (1999). He appears briefly as a Force ghost in the 2008 animated series The Clone Wars, the season finale of the 2022 live-action series Obi-Wan Kenobi, along with Attack of The Clones and The Rise of Skywalker as a disembodied voice, with Neeson reprising his role in all of the above. Qui-Gon also appears in two episodes of Tales of the Jedi, which depicts some scenes from his life before the events of The Phantom Menace; Neeson voices adult Qui-Gon in the series, while his son Micheál Richardson voices Qui-Gon as a padawan.
Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, first appearing in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back. He is a small, green humanoid alien who is powerful with the Force and is a leading member of the Jedi Order until its near annihilation. In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda was voiced and puppeteered by Frank Oz, who reprised the role in Return of the Jedi, the prequel trilogy, and the sequel trilogy. Outside of the films, the character was mainly voiced by Tom Kane, starting with the 2003 Clone Wars animated television series until his retirement from voice acting in 2021. Yoda is an iconic figure in popular culture due to his distinct pattern of speech and role as a wise mentor.
The Galactic Empire is a fictional autocracy featured in the Star Wars franchise. It was first introduced in the 1977 film Star Wars and appears in its two sequels: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). It is the main antagonistic faction of the original trilogy. An oppressive, autocratic regime with a complicated bureaucracy, the Galactic Empire seeks to ensure singular rule and social control over every planet and civilization within the galaxy.
Tatooine is a fictional desert planet that appears in the Star Wars franchise. It is a beige-colored, desolate world orbiting a pair of binary stars, and inhabited by human settlers and a variety of other life forms. The planet was first seen in the original 1977 film Star Wars, and has to date featured in a total of six Star Wars theatrical films, three live-action television series, and two animated series.
The Galactic Republic, often referred to as simply the Republic, is a fictional galactic polity depicted in the Star Wars universe, where it existed prior to the establishment of the Galactic Empire. The Republic is most prominently portrayed in the prequel trilogy of films in the Star Wars franchise. In the original trilogy, set later in time, it is referred to as the Old Republic.
The Skywalker family is a fictional legendary human family in the Star Wars franchise. Within the series' fictional universe, the Skywalkers are presented as a bloodline with strong inherent capabilities related to the Force and sometimes lightsaber skills. Luke Skywalker, his twin sister Princess Leia Organa, and their father Darth Vader are central characters in the original Star Wars film trilogy. Darth Vader, in his previous identity as Anakin Skywalker, is a lead character in the prequel film trilogy and so is his wife and the twins' mother Padmé Amidala; while his mother Shmi is a minor character in the first and second films respectively. Leia and Han Solo's son, Ben Solo, renamed himself Kylo Ren and is the main antagonist in the sequel film trilogy. Shmi, Padmé, and Han are the only members who are not Force-sensitive. The Skywalker bloodline, alongside the Palpatine bloodline, are the two bloodlines that are the strongest with the Force.
The Star Wars prequel trilogy, colloquially referred to as the prequels, is a series of epic space-opera films written and directed by George Lucas. It was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The trilogy was released from 1999 to 2005 and is set before the original Star Wars trilogy (1977–83), chronologically making it the first act of the Skywalker saga. Lucas had planned a prequel trilogy before the release of the original film, but halted major Star Wars films beyond the original trilogy by 1981. When computer-generated imagery (CGI) had advanced to the level he wanted for the visual effects he wanted for subsequent films, Lucas revived plans for the prequels by the early 1990s. The trilogy marked Lucas's return to directing after a 22-year hiatus following the original Star Wars film in 1977, as well as a 16-year hiatus between the classic and prequel trilogies.
The music of the Star Wars franchise is composed and produced in conjunction with the development of the feature films, television series, and other merchandise within the epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas. The music for the primary feature films was written by John Williams. Williams' work on the series included the scores of nine feature films, a suite and several cues of thematic material for Solo and the theme music for the Galaxy's Edge Theme Park. These count among the most widely known and popular contributions to modern film music, and utilize a symphony orchestra and features an assortment of about fifty recurring musical themes to represent characters and other plot elements: one of the largest caches of themes in the history of film music.
The Sith are the main antagonists of many works in the fictional universe of the Star Wars franchise. They are the antithesis and ancient enemies of the Jedi. The Sith Order is depicted as an ancient monastic and kraterocratic cultist organization of supernaturally gifted Force-wielders driven by a machiavellian-imperialist agenda of galactic domination and revenge against the Jedi Order. The various antagonistic factions in the franchise, namely the Separatist Alliance, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the First Galactic Empire, the Imperial Remnant, and the First Order, all originated, either directly or indirectly, from the Sith.
Sheev Palpatine, also known by his Sith name Darth Sidious, is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. Initially credited as the Emperor in the original trilogy films, he serves as the main antagonist of the nine-film Skywalker saga, in which he is portrayed by Ian McDiarmid. In creating Palpatine, Lucas was inspired by real-world examples of democratic backsliding during the rise and rule of dictators such as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler.
Darth Maul, also known simply as Maul, is a character in the Star Wars franchise. He first appeared in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace as a powerful Sith Lord and Darth Sidious' first apprentice. Though seemingly killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of the film, Darth Maul returned in the 2008 computer animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Star Wars creator George Lucas had intended for the resurrected Maul to serve as the main antagonist of the sequel film trilogy, but these plans were abandoned when Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012. The character nonetheless reappeared in the 2014 animated series Star Wars Rebels and the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story, voiced again by Witwer; Park physically reprised the role in Solo. Since his initial defeat in The Phantom Menace, Maul has become an independent criminal mastermind and endured as Obi-Wan's archenemy.
Mace Windu is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in the prequel trilogy. Jackson later reprised the role with voice only in the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the 2019 sequel film The Rise of Skywalker, whilst Terrence C. Carson voiced the character in other projects, such as The Clone Wars animated television series. The character also appears in various canon and non-canon Star Wars media like books, comics, and video games.
Padmé Amidala is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, appearing in the prequel trilogy portrayed by Natalie Portman. First indirectly mentioned in Return of the Jedi, she is introduced in The Phantom Menace as the teenage Queen of Naboo, and after her reign, becomes a senator and an anti-war activist in the Galactic Senate. She secretly marries Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight, then later dies while giving birth to twins Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. Anakin's fear of losing Padmé serves as the catalyst in driving him to the dark side of the Force and becoming Darth Vader.
Ian Doescher is an American fiction writer, best known as the author of the plays in the William Shakespeare's Star Wars trilogy series, Verily, a New Hope (2013), The Empire Striketh Back (2014), and The Jedi Doth Return (2014), parodic retellings of George Lucas's Star Wars film trilogy (1977–1983) in blank verse and 16th-century style of William Shakespeare.
